A headteacher cycling home from a Greater Manchester grammar school was struck by a car, trapped beneath it and dragged for more than a mile to his death, a murder trial at Manchester Minshull Street Crown Court heard on Monday, October 13, 2026.
Michael Mullins, 56, the headteacher of Stretford Grammar School, was riding home on April 20 when a Volvo XC90 driven by Simon Richardson, 35, went straight through give way markers at a junction in Altrincham and collided with him, jurors were told. Richardson denies murder, and also denies an alternative count of manslaughter and a charge of dangerous driving.
What jurors were told at Minshull Street Crown Court
The prosecution's account, set out by Phil Barnes KC, is one of the most disturbing opening statements a British court has heard in years. According to the ITV Hub, which first reported the case, witnesses stopped their cars after the collision and searched the hedgerows and fields for the cyclist. They found his bicycle lying in the road. They could not find the man riding it.
Mr Mullins was nowhere to be seen because he was trapped beneath the wheels of Richardson's car, the court heard.
„Simon Richardson did not stop to see if the cyclist he had just ploughed into was OK. Simon Richardson, knowing he was to blame for what had just happened, turned his head, put his foot down and, at times travelling at double the speed limit, he fled the scene.“
Those were the words of Mr Barnes KC, prosecuting, as reported by the BBC. He told jurors that Richardson drove on with the headteacher beneath his car, at times at twice the speed limit, along roads in Altrincham and into the Cheshire countryside.
For a significant stretch of that journey, Mr Barnes said, Richardson knew Mr Mullins was trapped and injured but alive beneath his vehicle. He drove on regardless. That knowledge, the Crown argues, is what makes this murder rather than a road accident.
The evidence the prosecution says proves Richardson knew
The prosecution's case rests heavily on what Richardson could and could not have failed to notice. An automatic number plate recognition camera captured damage to the Volvo's bonnet and windscreen, almost directly in front of the driver's seat, as it travelled away from the scene.
Mr Barnes told the court that damage was caused by Mr Mullins being thrown onto the bonnet when he was struck.
„Putting it bluntly, there is no way on earth that Simon Richardson could not have known that he had just hit Michael Mullins and that he was very likely to be hurt.“
Later in the journey, the court heard, Richardson stopped in a quiet country lane, got out of the driver's seat and tried, in vain, to pull Mr Mullins from beneath the car. He then drove on. Witnesses described the Volvo „veering sharply and deliberately from side to side“ before it mounted a grass verge, and the Crown says Richardson drove over his victim at least once before the body was finally dislodged.
Mr Mullins was crushed to death beneath the wheels of the car, Mr Barnes said, and his death was made quicker by the fact that he had been dragged against the road surface for more than two kilometres.
The first man to reach him found him still breathing, barely alive. His breath gave out moments later. Medics attended but Mr Mullins was pronounced dead at the roadside 40 minutes after the collision. He was 56 years old.
Arrest in Failsworth the following day
Richardson was arrested the following day, April 21, after police said he drove dangerously at speed through residential streets in Failsworth, Oldham, in a van as officers pursued him. The trial continues, and Richardson has entered not guilty pleas to murder, manslaughter and dangerous driving.
The Manchester Evening News described Mr Mullins as a popular educator who had led Stretford Grammar School, one of the few remaining selective schools in the area and an institution that generations of local families have trusted with their children's education.
A question about the roads we now travel
There is a temptation, with a story as appalling as this one, to file it away as an aberration, a one-off act of wickedness that tells us nothing about the country we live in. That temptation should be resisted, if only briefly.
What this case lays bare, beyond the alleged depravity of one man, is a question of basic standards. A headteacher, a pillar of his community, cycling home from the school he served, struck at a junction where another driver is said to have ignored give way markers. Witnesses behaved exactly as decent Britons always have: they stopped, they got out, they searched, they called for help. The contrast between the ordinary goodness of those bystanders and the conduct alleged of Richardson could not be starker.
Britain's roads, and the culture of impunity that too often surrounds bad driving in them, have been a quiet scandal for years. Cases like the deaths of a mother and four children have already shown what happens when warnings are ignored and the system fails to act before tragedy strikes. If the Crown's account of April 20 is proved, the question of whether an earlier pattern of dangerous behaviour was ever properly addressed will be one the authorities in Greater Manchester should have to answer.
For now, the matter rests with a jury of twelve ordinary men and women at Minshull Street Crown Court, doing what the British justice system has asked of juries for centuries: weighing the evidence without fear or favour. Michael Mullins's family will hope, as any family would, that the process is swift and the verdict sure.
What happens next in the case?
Who is on trial for Michael Mullins's death?
Simon Richardson, 35, is on trial at Manchester Minshull Street Crown Court accused of murdering Michael Mullins, 56, the headteacher of Stretford Grammar School, on April 20. He denies murder, an alternative count of manslaughter and dangerous driving.
What does the prosecution say happened?
Prosecutors allege Richardson drove through give way markers at a junction in Altrincham, struck Mr Mullins on his bicycle, and then fled at up to double the speed limit with the headteacher trapped beneath his car, dragging him for more than two kilometres before he was crushed to death.
When will there be a verdict?
No date has been set. The trial opened on Monday, October 13, 2026, and jurors will hear evidence over the coming weeks before being asked to reach verdicts on murder, manslaughter and dangerous driving.